HBO’s Westworld recently gave us one of the most exciting crossovers in the modern history of television. The showrunners of another HBO’s blockbuster Game of Thrones, D. B. Weiss and David Benioff, were seen in a cameo in the latest Westworld episode. While you can reserve your reactions to the cameos for later discussions, the makers of Westworld generously credited George R.R. Martin for the idea. George, however, was surprised by the final product. Read on!
Martin recently took to his Not a Blog, and explained in great detail about whether or not it was indeed his idea. He wrote that he was asked by Jonah Nolan and Lisa Joy, the makers of Westworld, to watch the episode. He enjoyed the episode and the cameos made him smile.
“I got a message from my friend Jonah Nolan last week. Jonah is one of the creators and showrunners of HBO’s WESTWORLD, along with his wife Lisa Joy, and he told me to be sure to catch Sunday’s episode, there might be something that would amuse me.”
He added:
“I was indeed amused when we came on the cameo of The Three Ds: David Benioff, Dan Weiss, and Drogon. I thought it was a fun moment, and it made me smile.”
He also wrote about how he never managed to make a cameo on Game of Thrones despite wishing for it dearly.
“I also filmed a GAME OF THRONES cameo in the pilot, as a guest at Dany’s wedding to Khal Drogo. They gave me an enormous hat and really big balls, which might have been some sort of commentary.”
However, the sequence was reshot and his cameo was cut.
“When we recast, the whole wedding had to be reshot and I wound up on the cutting room floor. A little later, I wanted to be a severed head on the walls of the Red Keep next to Ned Stark (and David & Dan, ideally), but our budget was not so robust first season, and those severed heads are damned expensive.”
In fact, Martin wanted to part of the famous ‘Red Wedding’ episode as well!
“I also campaigned to die horribly at the Red Wedding, which seemed only fair since I was responsible for it, but it was felt that my presence in that powerful, wrenching, bloody scene might have taken the viewers out of the moment.”
He then wrote that he had no idea what to expect from the episode but he did suggest the makers about the possible crossover ideas.
“No, I had no idea this particular moment was coming until I caught it on HBO… but back during WESTWORLD’s season one, I did suggest to Jonah that, seeing as how the original WESTWORLD film featured a Medieval World, the TV version could easily have a Westeros World.”
He also teased the fans by writing that he wanted various other actors to make a cameo as well. However, that didn’t come to fruition.
“And, hey, I even suggested that they could bring back actors from GOT, characters we had killed. The hosts die almost weekly, after all. The fans might have gotten a kick out of catching a brief glimpse of Richard Madden, Sibel Kekilli, Esme Bianco, Ron Donachie, or Mark Addy again… and I suspect the actors would have been game as well. But it was not to be.”
Talk about teasing the fans eh? Martin sure knows a trick or two.
Let us know your thoughts on Martin’s recent write-up. The comment section is all yours!
